from the doom-and-gloom dept

This week's most insightful comments could just as easily be called its most cynical — and that's fair enough. If there's anything that should make you cynical about the US government, it's the still ongoing revelations about the NSA. Thus, we've got our most insightful comment of the week from silverscarcat, responding to torture-defender John Yoo's defence of the NSA:

There's one thing John Yoo missed

the terrorists have already won.

After all, Bin Laden said that he didn't have to do anything anymore after 9/11, since America would destroy itself.

Those who oppose [Snowden and the NSA leaks] need to think about what they are condoning.

And, finally, we've got a great comment from BentFranklin that racked up lots of insightful and funny votes, but not quite enough to crack either leaderboard. When the NSA insisted that the idea of it sifting through as much as 75% of US online communications was "simply not true", he saw the real meaning of the words:

If they say it is simply not true, it must be true complexly.

On the funny side, for first place we head back over to the UK. As details emerged on the government's threats against The Guardian newspaper in forcing it to destroy hard drives, Ruby turned a classic Big Brother argument back on them:

Someone needs to tell the government that if they've nothing to hide, they've nothing to fear.

*Marlin Perkins Voice*
And if you watch closely you can see the wild reporter in heat. Here he is presenting, showing the dominate ones he is receptive to receiving what they are willing to give him. See how he as assumed the submissive position, showing he is no threat.

(UK residents: substitute David Attenborough for Marlin Perkins in the above joke. [US Residents: substitute Sigourney Weaver for David Attenborough in the adjacent joke.])

Well, to be honest that's not a lot considering the US has over 300 million terrorists inside it's borders.

And, finally, we'll break away from all this high-stakes international insanity and stupidity to focus on the garden-variety kind. When an incredibly painful-to-watch CNBC news panel argued that Call of Duty and other video games have killed chivalry and kept guys from dating, an anonymous commenter suggested they were looking in the wrong place [link added, to clarify for non-gamers]: